Hospitality: Giving and Receiving

Hey everyone, this is Josh from Encounter Church

Henley and thanks so much for tuning into our

podcast. Our prayer is that through this podcast

you can have an encounter with Jesus that will

change your life. And now get ready for an inspiring

message from our preaching team. Welcome to church

everyone. For those who don't know me, I think

I know most of you in the room at this point,

but I'm Tex. I'm one of the pastors here at Encounter

Henley. It's always a pleasure to get to bring

the Word of God to you today. So we kind of,

the best thing about being up here, you know,

pretty regularly is you're all getting to learn

a little bit about me, a little bit about my

backstory. So as most of you would know, I spent

a bit of my youth in Texas and I moved there

about when I was about 11 years old and I moved

there about two to three weeks before Christmas.

I can't remember the dates. That's not my strong

point, right? But it was definitely in December.

And what would happen, as fate would have it,

I ended up in a classroom at the middle school.

My sister ended up in a classroom at the senior

school with two siblings. Evan was the girl who

was in my sister's homeroom and then her brother

Asher was in my homeroom. We became fast friends

because when you move around a fair bit, as I

did as a kid, you make friends. quickly or at

least you really really try to and what happened

is that it would seem that our situation the

fact that we just moved to this country the fact

that it's just before Christmas and the fact

that the Horner family were staring down the

barrel of a Christmas day in a Motel 6 had obviously

come up at some point over the dinner table at

Evan and Ash's house yeah so that's come up Their

mum Cathy has decided, no, no, no, no, no, this

will not do, this is no good. So what she did,

Cathy, she picked up the phone, because again,

I am 47 years old, and you didn't text people

in the mid -90s, you had to... call them on the

telephone and the gasp passes through the crowd

no doubt. Yet so what Cathy has done is she's

heard about our situation, she has picked up

the phone, she has called a woman that she has

never ever met before and the first thing she

does in this conversation is invite this woman

and her entire family to her house for Christmas

lunch. It's the first thing that Cathy did ever

when she spoke to my mum. Now this is great,

this was met, there were some hurdles along the

way with this one. The first one is that I come

from a proper English family. I know I sound

like a Bogan, but I come from a very English

family, right? Which means, this is very strange.

This won't do. How will this work? We're not

organised, we haven't planned for this, it's

not in the calendar, what should I bring? What

do we wear? What's the dress code? This can't

happen. And to which Cathy said, of course it

can. I don't want you to overthink this, I just

want you to say yes. So my mum very hesitantly

but very gratefully did just that. She said yes.

So Christmas morning rolls around and we head

to the Moors house and the Moors are, God bless,

the Moors were one of those families where you

just kind of, and one of those houses where there

was just kind of a lot of unanswered questions

that some of them you worked at as you went and

some of them you didn't. For example, who actually

lives here? There are many people here. There

are very many different people every time I come

here and I haven't worked out who has a bedroom

and who's just kind of rolling through. That

was the Moore's house. They had one of those

houses where it's like, do you have three dogs

or do you have seven dogs? Because every time

I come there appears to be a different one. Sometimes

they're permanent, sometimes they're not. Is

that a cat? I don't remember that cat being here

last time. And these half full cans of Dr. Pepper

in the living room, are they half drunk or are

they half full of spit from chewing tobacco?

That one might be a distinctly Texan thing, but

that is very much the reality of going and hanging

out at the Moore's house and you only make the

mistake of picking up a can of Dr Pepper once,

thinking you know what's inside and getting it

wrong. You never do that again, but you definitely

do it once. So it is pretty safe to say that

we've got my family's proper English background

and upbringing now colliding with the Moore's.

and they were just a very different family than

we were. We were, we were very, very different.

And what we did is we get there for lunch and

we kind of get introduced around to the immediate

family and now what we're doing is we're piling

into cars and pickup trucks because we are headed

to Marampar's house for lunch. That's right,

we weren't just going to the Moor's house for

lunch for Christmas, we were going to her grandparents'

house or to her parents' house for Christmas

lunch. So at this point we are now in very, very

deep. I'd like to remind you we're not actually

in quite as deep as the Moors are though. They've

now got five strangers who are coming to Christmas

lunch which was based purely on a need that they

could fulfill and then they had a quick phone

call about it and that was it. And as I was thinking

about this this week and I've talked about the

Moors before I couldn't help but raise this the

first question myself is would I do that? If

I heard about a family in need like that would

I have done what they did? Which then I hope

leads to the next question, which is, would you

do that? Which then led me to the next question,

which was, why would they do that? Why? This

is insane. There's two kids at school. My kids

come home, talk about people they've met all

the time. I don't know anything about these kids.

Or if what they're telling me is 100 % true,

I've got no idea. I'm assuming. I believe the

best in my children. But who knows, man? Kids

be telling stuff, they be talking. Now the simple

answer as to why would they do that, and this

is what we came to find out, and if you're in

this room, and I'm using this as a sermon example,

you can probably work it out. It's because Cathy

was a Christian. And for her, all she knew is

that these five strangers had a need, and that

that need she could fulfill. She knew that and

trusted that what she had and what she had to

offer would be enough and that God would do the

rest. And as again, as I thought about it and

as I reflected on it, as I prayed this week,

it was honestly, it's the single greatest act

of evangelism that I've ever been witness to

and certainly the greatest that I've ever been

the recipient of. An incredible Christ -centered

act of hospitality that has stayed with me for

more than 30 years. I did say I'm 14 years old.

You have a story that you remember from 30 years

ago, six years before I was born, that's right.

Dr Tim Chester tells us that food matters. Meals

matter. Few acts are more expressive of companionship

than the shared meal. Someone with who we share

food is likely to be our friend or well on their

way to becoming one. At that point all the Moors

knew is that they that we needed a friend and

that via a meal They could offer us hospitality.

They could offer us friendship. They could offer

us comfort They weren't concerned at all about

the burdens or the costs that were attached to

that financial The late change of plans something

that I don't deal that well with potential awkwardness

at the dinner table if conversations started

to wane It didn't didn't matter to them because

that their mission was just to take strangers

and turn them into neighbors That's all they

were really interested in That's all they were

concerned about, so that's what they did. Their

mission was to echo the second greatest commandment,

which is, love thy neighbour, and the value that

they placed in that mission far outweighed any

cost that might have been associated with it.

And I want you to keep the Moors and I want you

to keep that act of evangelism and that act of

hospitality in mind as we enter into the beginning

of this new series, which is called, Evangelism

for Everyone. Now, why evangelism and why this

series at all? And it's, I mean, we can start

with the obvious one, which is as Christians,

we evangelize or we should evangelize because

we are called to do so. We are literally told

to go and make disciples of all nations. But

then there's the question of, okay, we're called

to do it, but why are we called to do it? Because

I'll be honest, that can feel pretty overwhelming.

and I'm an extrovert, I love talking to people,

I love going and doing stuff, but even for me

that feels pretty overwhelming. And we evangelize

really to let those around us and let those that

we love now or that we learn to love, honestly

it's just that we let them know about the good

news of Jesus. We can invite others into experience

the true joy and the eternal salvation that can

only be found in that relationship with Jesus,

it's that important. That's why we evangelize

because it's actually kind of one of the most

important things that we can do. And for some

of you this comes more naturally than it will

for others and that's okay. That's why we run

a series like this and that's why we do the things

that we're doing and in these next six weeks

what we're going to attempt to do is outline

what evangelism is, what it looks like and also

how to prepare to do it well. And to do that

we are going to teach you, I wish I'd immediately

turn this into a Tim's style game show segment,

but we are going to teach you the habits of evangelism,

which are hospitality, asking great questions,

being a Christian, invitation, testimony and

spiritual power. Because as the great theologian

Steph Littleford put it at our RDG this week,

because we need help to see people around us

not as projects, but as people to love like Jesus

would. I honestly couldn't find a better succinct

example than that, so that's what we're running

with. So what are the hurdles though that prevent

us? Why don't we do it? If we've been called

to do it and if we can recognise the importance

of it, why don't we do it? What is it that stops

us from evangelizing? What is it that stops us

from loving people in a way that mirrors the

way that Jesus loves people? And they're pretty

obvious and they seem pretty reasonable, right?

Time? Money? Financial outlay? Is there the fear

of rejection? Is it a lack of knowledge? A lack

of confidence? Maybe I've got the wrong space.

If my house was a little bit bigger or if it

was a little bit tidier and maybe if I just put

away those nine cans of Dr. Pepper. Or maybe

it's just like I'm not the right person. Maybe

these are those hurdles that you're feeling and

that you're facing and these are all the things

that you're letting stop you from being involved

in this. And again, I want to tell you and I

want to say and I want to be really clear, these

are super understandable fears. These are super

reasonable things to have milling about in your

head. Again, over the next six weeks, what we

want to do is we want to unpack all of them and

kind of say, hey, they're not as big of a hurdle

as you think they are. Not one of them should

actually prevent you or stop you from doing any

of this. And it's why we're equipping you so

that we can release you instead of just saying,

hey, you should just go do that. That's a great

idea. Right? So is it good? Is that good, church?

Yes. Thank you very much. I'm trying to have

a very quiet room today. Okay. So we're going

to start this week with my favorite form of evangelism,

which is hospitality. And I love that because

it's the only form of evangelism that also comes

with dessert. So we're going to carry on and

we're going to move quickly today as well. So

if you are the kind of person that has a physical

Bible or a digital Bible, feel free. Again, Caden's

got to read over lots of names and lots of detail

very quickly before. Feel free to follow along

with us. Feel free to open your Bible back up

to 2 Kings 4, 8. Follow along because we start

today's teaching text with an invitation to a

stranger. There is a woman who knows Elijah is

passing through town. So she invites him to stay

for a meal. It really starts that simply. He

has a need. I can fulfill it. He's coming through

town. I'm going to invite him. So he does. And

then we're told, so whenever He comes by, He

stopped to eat. So now what we're being told

is that not only is Elisha a regular passer through

of this town, that when He stops through, He

stops in for dinner. This seems like a pretty

good deal if I'm Elisha. I come to town, you

welcome me in, good stuff. So He's now a regular

recipient of the hospitality of this woman and

her husband. Now this becomes such a consistent

occurrence that the woman and her husband build

him a room to stay in. This is not an air mattress

in the study. This is a project. This is the

free time. We hear later that the husband is

out in the fields which means at some point when

he's not in the fields he's being asked to like

put stuff together. Have you ever put together

like an Ikea cupboard? It sucks. This guy's building

a whole room. just so they can extend more hospitality

to Elisha. They put, now it's simple, right?

It's a bed, it's a lamp, it's simple furnishings,

but they do this for him so they can extend that

hospitality. Now there's no consideration. We

don't hear in any of this about how much it costs

them, how much time goes into it, any physical

labor, anything that goes into it. They just

want to bless Elisha. They want to extend this

hospitality. So now they're offering repeated

meals, they're offering a room and at this stage,

not only that, it's all been one -sided hospitality.

All we're hearing about so far is the hospitality

that Elisha is receiving from this couple in

the process. And by the way, not a grumble to

be seen. It's just been, hey, we can do this

so we will. And verse 9 in this passage states,

I know that the man who comes our way is a man

of God. Now reputation is one thing, like Elisha

at this stage of the Bible has started to pick

himself quite a well -earned reputation and reasonably

so, right? But how do you think that this woman,

she didn't say I've heard, she's like, she says

I know that the man who comes to visit is a man

of God. How do you think she learned to know

that this was true? Well I'm going to argue that

she would know that through time, proximity,

regularly shared meals, they've just simply gotten

to know each other. Spend enough time with someone

and you'll get to know them, not just how they

want you to see them, but if you really spend

enough time with someone, you're going to see

them for who they actually are. Facades will

crumble. Our truest selves get revealed and the

truest version of others get revealed to us.

So at this stage, how does she know that Elisha

is a man of God? She doesn't have to trust what

others have said about Elisha because now she

knows it for herself. She has seen it. She has

been around him. Now part of the reason we extend

hospitality is actually for that very reason.

Because when we share meals with people, if you

go, if you think of that quote from Tim Jessup

or about the importance of sharing a meal, it's

because over a meal and through time and doing

those things together, we break down walls. And

what we do is that people are revealed to us

and we reveal ourselves to others. And for Christians,

what happens as part of that process is our faith

is at the very core of who it is that we are.

If we are living a life of discipleship under

Jesus, that life of discipleship, that life of

living out of the love of Jesus, that informs

absolutely every decision that we make. Every

dinner invitation we extend, every conversation

that we have, every response to somebody that

we share is born and formed in that identity.

So there's no way to spend that much time with

anyone and for your faith to not become apparent

through both word and deed. And when your relationships

get deeper, some of the differences you have

will either be revealed or will break down, but

then they quite often will actually get replaced

with affection. And then if we're really trying

to live our life in a way that reflects the way

Jesus lived His life is that... that stranger

to neighbor to family kind of thing. You kind

of go from basic relationship to affection to

love. You learn to love each other for who you

are because... That's what you've been revealing

to each other and that proximity and that time.

That's what we do. Now we're no longer, once

we love someone and there's that inbuilt trust,

we're no longer afraid to ask hard questions

or to sacrifice time or preference. We do so

willingly because that's what love does and that's

what love is. It's a willingness to sacrifice.

It's a willingness to pay cost. When we love

like Jesus, we just really continue to enter

into a willingness to pay those costs. to offer

up those sacrifices of preference, of time, money,

house, all of it. Now Elijah has been receiving

honestly wonderful and repeated blessings at

the hands and expense of this couple. And this

prophet and miracle worker, he wants to repay

them with a blessing of his own. So he prays

a blessing over this woman. She has no children,

her husband is old, and Elijah prophesies that

this time next year she will have a son in her

arms. Now Elisha again, no doubt knowing the

greatest desires of this woman's heart. She actually,

she even pushes back. She says, no my Lord, don't

mislead your servant. Or if you will, like Elisha,

you must know how badly I want this. Don't say

it if it's not true. Now did Elisha make a guess?

No, I'm going to say that due to the depth and

consistency of their relationship, that again,

Elisha had learned what it was that was at the

core of this woman, the biggest desires of her

heart, what was really in the deepest parts of

her soul. And the son, he says, will be in your

arms this time next year, and there was. Now

again, this is one of those, the Bible's amazing

with this stuff, is kind of if you blink, you'll

miss it. But the story now skips ahead, literal...

years. We go from Elisha blessing this woman,

to the next thing we hear is that the son is

now of walking talking age. He is out in the

field. He is talking to his father and he says,

hey dad, my head hurts. And we go from that to

within hours that this boy dies in his mother's

arms. There's no way to avoid. This is just a

tragedy. This is awful part of this story. So

what does she do? She takes the boy and she lays

him on Elisha's bed. She heads out to find Elisha.

So now what's happened is the most traumatic

thing imaginable in this woman's life has just

happened and who does she turn to? She turns

to Elisha. This is a guy who at some point mere

years ago was a stranger and now she's who he's,

he is who she is going to to seek comfort. Such

is the depth of their relationship. Not only

is he a hopeful comforter, he's also at this

point a source of great hope. Now up until now,

up until this point of the story, it feels like

the only person who's actually kind of paid anything

in this relationship or paid out any kind of

real form of hospitality has been this Shunammite

woman. She's paid for dinners, she's built an

extension on her home, and now she's lost a son

that was kind of born out of a blessing only

made possible through this friendship. And it's

kind of what happens next is where we actually

see that through, again, this depth of relationship,

these acts of hospitality, these costs that are

kind of been born or potentially willing to be

born is that Elisha is actually willing to pay

the same costs via his own great hospitality

and in turn his own great act of evangelism by

affirmation of the power of God. You see, in

ancient Israel, bodies were prepared for burial

pretty quickly. We didn't have refrigeration,

which is a first starting point. I didn't know

how seriously or comedically that was gonna land

until Tim laughed at it. I mean, we'll take that

on face value now. Moving on. So like we didn't

have refrigeration. Bodies were deemed to be

impure or unclean. And if you were to touch a

dead body, then you were now deemed to be impure

or unclean. Now, where is this boy's body currently?

He's not been taken for preparation for burial.

He's been taken and left on Elisha's bed. And

despite having heard directly from God in the

past, God actually hadn't spoken to Elisha. Elisha

says, God has not spoken to me of the pain of

this boy. God has not spoken to me of the death

of this boy. So there's no guarantee that despite

the fact that Elisha has been used to work miracles

before, that Elisha is going to be used to work

a miracle again. So what if God didn't perform

that same miracle this time? What parts of himself,

or of Elisha's friendship with the Shunammite

woman, or greater still, what would Elisha potentially

think of his own relationship with God if this

didn't work out this time around? The child!

This is just no nice way to put this. This child

is already gone. This child has passed away.

So, at this point, the only person now left any

further here with anything to pay or the only

potential cost to anybody is Elisha at this stage

by going through with this next stage, these

next actions that he chooses to go through with,

but he's willing to pay that cost. Now, Elisha

goes to the boy's body and he doesn't simply

pray over him, hey, look, I'm not going to skip

over this. This next part is a little weird when

we first look at it, right? He doesn't just pray

over the boy. What he does is he stretches out

his body over him. He goes eye to eye, mouth

to mouth, hands to hands. So what's happening

in this moment is Elisha is not having a brush

with death. He is literally staring it in the

eye. He is embracing the concept of death. This

potential impurity, this potential defiling,

he is putting himself directly in front of it.

He's making direct contact with it. Why? The

first is because this is a man who's learned

to trust that God would show up when he needed

him to. Despite the fact he's not heard directly

from God, he's trusting that. And the main reason

and the second reason is because in Elisha's

eyes, the cost associated with not trying was

inconceivable. Elisha is asked to weigh up the

cost of his own defiling, his own purity, his

own relationships, his very reputation potentially

as this miracle worker that God will use. And

he does so without hesitation. Again, why? Because

the cost attached to not trying just doesn't

seem like it balances the ledger. In that moment,

Elisha is this boy's only chance. So in Elisha's

eyes, in that moment, it's all worth it. And

in that moment all I can think is like, what

cost would I be willing to pay? What actions

against myself? What would I be willing to put

on the line? What would I be willing to risk

in a similar moment hoping for a miraculous act

of God? What would I be willing to risk? What

would I be willing to pay for the opportunity

for a friend or family member to be saved by

Jesus? Because it's in the light of this relationship,

this mutual act of hospitality, these mutual

acts of love between Elisha and this Shunammite

woman, that God does show up and that death is

defeated. And it's actually that at the end there,

that is the reason we open our homes to others.

That's the reason we extend hospitality to strangers,

be they strangers to us, or be they people who

may feel like are strangers to Jesus. Not Jesus,

nobody is a stranger to Jesus. Jesus knows each

and every one of us, but people who may not consider

themselves someone who has a relationship with

Jesus. And it's that hospitality, it's that opportunity

for people to enter into relationship with Jesus,

which is why any of the costs that we may pay

are worth it. And it's why we need to continue

to be willing to pay them. Those discomforts

we talked about, finance, a little bit of time,

my house, whatever's cleaner, it doesn't matter.

Those are small prices to pay. Because it's through

relationships like these that trust is established

and that trust becomes a foundation for Jesus'

Spirit to move and power to be able to present

itself. And this story shows us just how hospitality

is a gateway. to deeper relationship. But more

than that, it's a starting off point for friendships.

And the kind of friendships that make us want

to sit with and help someone else in need, the

kind of friendships that make us vulnerable enough

to be comforted by someone or to offer comfort

to someone, would we and should we offer that

kind of act of service, that kind of act of hospitality,

that willingness to pay costs for a stranger,

I'd hope so. Again, we're called to, after all,

Hebrews 13 2 makes it clear, do not neglect to

show hospitality to strangers, for by this some

have entertained angels without knowing it. And

again, I get it, the idea and the concept of

doing something like this for a stranger can

feel really big and can feel really, really scary.

But look at Elisha and the Shunammite woman.

Look at my earlier example of the Horner's and

the Moore family and think about yourself think

about your We use this language at Encounter

Church, plus one, right? If I've said that once

from this platform, I've said it a hundred times

and I hope, I pray to God I say it 10 ,000 times

more in the life of this church, right? Why?

Because the idea of plus one, these things we

use, plus one, let your Sundays invade your Mondays.

What's another one? About people having an encounter

with Jesus from city to beach. What do you think

all of these statements are born out of? They're

born out of that need and that desire to form

relationships and to over -hentalize, giving

everybody an opportunity to have a relationship

with Jesus. And again, if you think of yourself

and your plus one, acts of hospitality given

and received, I almost guarantee that you've

likely shared a meal. You might have stayed at

each other's houses. You've learned of each other's

deepest desires or deepest fears. Maybe you've

prayed over them. Maybe they stood with you on

your wedding day. Maybe they watched as your

child grew up. Maybe they watched or sat with

you in one of the darkest moments of your life.

But I want you to keep in mind is that these

people, your plus ones, these people that you

love and that you care about did not start that

way at some point. They too were a stranger.

And what did you do? And what happened in your

relationship that they went from a stranger to

someone you love like Jesus would and hopefully

to someone that you let love you like that in

return. The best way is simply by living an authentic

Christian life in their presence. You want to

introduce Jesus to someone? Live it. Because

when we do, we're giving Jesus the opportunity

to present Himself to those around us. We're

giving Jesus the opportunity to perform His miracles.

It is not our job to be Jesus. Our role is to

simply allow Him to present Himself to people.

So this week, I want to issue a little challenge,

which is, I'm going to make it sound really big

and I'll make it really small, right? I want

to give you, the challenge is, give Jesus the

opportunity to speak and be seen to someone in

your circle. You go, geez Tex, that feels quite

big. So let's make it really small. I want you

to do something super ordinary. You eat dinner

every single night. Most of you. Probably. Two

minute noodles still counts. Somebody's laughing,

I had two minute noodles for dinner last night.

Two minute noodles are delicious. It's an excellent

meal to invite someone around. Invite your plus

one or someone in your circle around for dinner

this week. That's it. If you're not sure the

practicalities of how to host or how to have

someone around, I'm going to give you a few easy

tips. When Kyle and I started coming to church,

we did not know how to be Christians. We didn't

know what anything looked like of like, we didn't

have like theology. Come around for a hearty

Bible discussion. Couldn't do it. We're not equipped.

Some would still argue, you know, we're right

on the barrier, right? Here's what we could do.

We could have people around for dinner. We loved

people. We love people. So that's what we did.

So here's a few pointers I've learned from doing

that and I'm now sharing them with you. Invite

someone around for dinner. Invite them. That's

step number one. That is super duper, like the

first step and it should feel pretty easy. The

more you do it, the easier it becomes. Now I

changed my points this morning so I'm hoping

my slides are gonna roll with me. Next is ask

them if there's anything they do or don't like.

This will give them the opportunity to share

allergies with you. Some people get really really

weird about food and things like that and preferences.

I really hate fish. I don't want to tell them

about it. Tell them. Give them the opportunity

to say, I don't like fish. because otherwise

you're inviting them into your home and then

you're going to make them fish and they go, this

sucks, I hate it here. If they ask if they can

bring something, let them bring something. It

doesn't matter if you need them to bring something,

just let them bring something. Hospitality is

not needed to be reciprocal, but Jesus feels

really good when it is. Let them bring something.

Here's a fun one. Why don't you take your phone

that's in your pocket and why don't you go and

put it on charge in your bedroom? Before they

get there just maybe wait till they get there

if you want just in case they're running 10 minutes

late I'm a Horner. I know how this works right

put your phone on charge in the bedroom and Then

I want you to sit and I want you to listen and

I want you to talk Yeah, whoa indeed Because

if you deliberately and intentionally extend

hospitality to someone, and you invite them into

your life, and you invite them into your home,

and you really sit with them, Jesus will eventually

present Himself. He'll present Himself through

you, He'll present Himself through your words,

your actions, both incidental and deliberate.

People will start asking, what is it about this

home and this house that when I come here, people

will start asking you the question, which is

that... My life is, I'm attempting to live my

life in a way that is a response to a loving

saving grace of Jesus Christ. Literally the reason

we do these things is for that. Now for many

there's a fear that evangelism is going to come

off as disingenuous or forced, right? That's

why we're breaking it down into these habits.

So let me make it really easy for you again.

Remember this, I want you to be a Christian first

and an evangelist second. Because if you're doing

the first one, the second one will flow out of

that and through that without you even realizing

half the time. But I don't want you to be afraid

to do the latter. I don't want you to be afraid

to be deliberate in doing the latter. Because

again, if I can give you that kind of slightly

heftier challenge, if you're not willing to go

and seek out the one, your plus one in the name

of Jesus, who will? Dietrich Bonhoeffer puts

every... everybody's favorite German priest.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer puts it this way, the church

is the church only when it exists for others.

Just a reminder to each of you, if you are here

in your follower of Jesus, you are the church.

So if the church is only the church when it exists

for others, we are only the church when we exist

for others. Our hospitality and our evangelism

is in the service of others. And in this direct

instance, I'm going to make it really easy for

you. Most notably, it's for your plus ones. You

have to be willing to be completely unreasonable

in your pursuit of your plus one. But be unreasonable

with a love that seems unimaginable. That's the

greatest form of evangelism you've got. It's

the kind of evangelism that comes out of the

love that Jesus chased and continues to chase

us down with.